Suture holder



Patented Oct. 17, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUTURE HOLDER Application September 10, 1938, Serial No. 229,264

3 Claims. (01. 20663.3)

This invention relates to improvements in holders for bundles or skeins of thread, cords and particularly sutures and has reference especially to a holder of this character which is constructed to hold the strands in straight lengths and to enable one or more strands to be withdrawn from the skein without disturbing the remaining strands.

Sutures used for medical purposes come in continuous lengths and are usually wound upon spools. When strands of certain lengths are required the suture material is unwound from the spool and cut to the proper lengths, but instead of obtaining straight strands by this means, the result in each case is only a strand, which tangles easily and which is in some degree kinked or curled and difficult to handle.

It is therefore highly desirable to overcome the difficulties pointed out above and to produce an article of manufacture which has for its object to provide a holder to receive and retain cut sutures or other strands of material in straight lengths ready for use and to permit one or more strands to be removed or withdrawn from the remaining strands without disturbing the latter.

I accomplish this object by means of the device, one embodiment of which is described in the following specification, set forth in the appended claims and illustratively exemplified in the accompanying drawing in'which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a suture holder; and

Figure 2 is a substantially transverse sectional View taken on lines 2-2 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawing, ll] denotes a channel bar of wood, metal or plastic substance cut to any predetermined length and having a substantially U-shape transverse section throughout its length. Short of the forward end of the bar the upright side walls are cut away to form convenient grooves II to enable the fingers of the user to pick one of the sutures [2 from the skein which is carried in the channel l3 of the bar It, and'which consists of a plurality of lengths or strands of silk, cotton, gut or the like. The side Walls of the bar ii] are stepped up slightly beyond the grooves II, where shoulders M are formed, and beyond the latter towards the opposite end of the bar ID the strands of sutures l2 are clamped in the channel I3 by means of a straight bar l5 consisting of a length of wood, metal or other suitable materials of a transverse section to fit more or less closely between the side walls of the channel bar ID. The bar I5 is resiliently urged or clamped upon the sutures l2 by means of resilient or elastic bands l6, one thereof being arranged about the bars l0 and I5 adjacent opposite ends of the latter. These bands l6 may be of any suitable material, which 5 will tend, under tension, to urge the bar l5 against the strands and towards the bottom of the channel l3, as the strands of the skein of sutures are reduced in number.

In practice the holder just described is filled with the sutures l2 and the bar I5 is placed between the side walls of the bar I I] and upon the sutures. The bands l6 are applied and the en tire holder suitably wrapped in an enclosure, not shown. The rigidity of the holder retains the strands in straight lengths and bands l6 afford just enough pressure upon the bar l5 to allow one strand at a time to be withdrawn without disturbing the remaining strands. The ease with which the present holder, when filled, may be sterilized and will accommodate the needles which are sometimes attached to the strands is of the greatest importance and convenience in a device of this type.

Having described my invention and set forth the manner in which the same is operated what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A holder for a plurality of sutures comprising a channel bar to receive the sutures, a clamping bar to rest against the sutures and disposed in the channel bar, at least one of said bars having a length less than the normal length of the sutures, and means resiliently urging the clamping bar against the sutures and towards the bottom of the channel bar as the individual sutures are withdrawn.

2. A holder for a skein of sutures and the like, comprising a rigid channel bar to receive and hold the sutures between the upright side walls thereof, a clamping bar arranged between the side walls of the channel bar to rest upon the sutures, said clamping bar being shorter than the channel bar to give access to the sutures at one end thereof, and elastic bands encircling thechannel bar and clamping bar adjacent opposite ends of the latter to urge the same against the skein of sutures.

3. A holder for a skein of sutures and the like as claimed in claim 2, in which the side walls of the channel bar beyond the clamping bar are cut away transversely thereof to facilitate removal of the strands of sutures.

- ALEX CHOFFEL. 

